Best of our wild blogs: 2 Mar 10

2010 TeamSeagrass Orientation 27 & 28 Mar (Sat & Sun)
a great time to join the Team from teamseagrass

Killer whale tragedy a wakeup call
from the kent ridge common by Chen Jinwen

Pulau Hantu video clips
from Pulau Hantu Blue spotted fang blenny and tiny reef cuttlefish and swimming crabs mating preamble

Rare mangrove in bloom at Sentosa!
from wild shores of singapore

Wave for me
from The annotated budak and Ghost of a Prayer

Kusu Island with Suku girls!
from Psychedelic Nature

Sungei Buloh on 21 Feb - continued
from The Simplicities in Life

Asian Koel in confrontation
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Drama in the garden as the Asian Koel appears
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Climate Witness: Pak Mat, Malaysia
from WWF - Climate Witness stories

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Oil, natural gas, coal to stay top energy sources: study

The 3 fossil fuels will account for nearly 80% of global needs up till 2030
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 2 Mar 10;

(SINGAPORE) From now till 2030, oil will remain the world's largest energy source, with natural gas moving into second spot ahead of coal. The three fossil fuels will account for close to 80 per cent of global energy needs, says ExxonMobil's senior energy adviser, David Reed.

Citing its Outlook for Energy report at an oil conference here yesterday, Mr Reed said that the use of nuclear and renewable fuels will also grow strongly in power generation, with the two fuels accounting for 40 per cent of electricity generation by then.

The ExxonMobil study has implications for Singapore - which is increasingly going the natural gas route, with coming liquefied natural gas imports in mid-2013 adding to piped gas supplies here, followed by the use of coal and possibly nuclear energy in future.

Singapore's Economic Strategies Committee last month recommended that the power industry here could consider options such as coal and that it should aim to have 5 per cent of peak electricity demand supplied from renewable energy by 2020. The feasibility of using nuclear energy in the longer-term should also be studied, the ESC said.

ExxonMobil's Mr Reed said that natural gas would be the fastest-growing major fuel, with gas demand in 2030 about 55 per cent higher than in 2005, although technologies that have unlocked 'unconventional' gas, like shale gas and coal bed methane, will help to satisfy this demand.

Interestingly, BG Group, which is Singapore's designated LNG buyer, intends to tap coal seam gas in Queensland and then liquefy it, before shipping it to the Republic.

In the US, unconventional gas is also expected to satisfy over half of the country's gas demand there by 2030, thus moderating its LNG import needs. Gas demand in the Asia Pacific, on the other hand, will continue to climb, and the region will need to import more gas, especially LNG, which will meet over one-third of its needs in 2030, the ExxonMobil study shows.

Mr Reed, who made the keynote presentation at the Asia Pacific Base Oil Conference here, said that as for transportation, the composition of the global vehicle fleet is expected to change through 2030.

While conventional petrol vehicles will continue to remain the majority followed by diesel vehicles, hybrids and other advanced vehicles will grow rapidly.

Singapore, for instance, is also starting to experiment with the use of plug-in electric cars, although their commercial usage is still some way down the road.

Regarding such hybrids, the ExxonMobil study said: 'We estimate that by 2030, they will constitute approximately 15 per cent of the total personal vehicle fleet, compared to less than one per cent today.'

But the oil giant maintains that improving today's vehicles - for example, making engines more efficient through turbocharging, or through the use of lightweight materials and better tyre technology - will also help.

'Our view is that compared to hybrids, plug-in hybrids or electric vehicles, improvements to conventional vehicles will likely be a more cost-effective approach for improving light-duty vehicle efficiency through 2030.'

It's a matter of affordability and scale, the ExxonMobil study argues. 'Making incremental and economical improvements to the millions of conventional cars that make up the vast majority of new-car sales is expected to have a greater overall impact than revolutionary and costly changes in new cars with technologies that as of yet have not been proven capable of significantly penetrating the market.'

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Online volunteer portal doubles its membership

3,400 members now, with over one-third from 25-34 age group
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 2 Mar 10;

SG Cares, the online portal which offers flexible volunteering opportunities, has doubled its number of volunteers to 3,400 and has had close to 200 activities completed since its launch six months ago.

The portal started last September with about 1,700 volunteers, some drawn from an older database belonging to the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) and others from a trial run from April to August last year.

And the members are not just signing up but are also active participants. Of�the new members since then, about seven in 10 have taken part in the portal's activities.

SG Cares, run by the NVPC, also appears to have made some headway in reaching out to those in the 25 to 34 age group, traditionally a group where the volunteering rate is lower than average.

Results of the last biennial national Individual Giving Survey that the NVPC conducted in 2008 showed that the volunteering rate was highest among the 15 to 24 age group, at 23 per cent. But that dropped to 13 per cent for those aged 25 to 34, even lower than the national average of 16.9 per cent.

Bucking the trend is the pool of SG Cares volunteers, where more than one-third are from this age group.

One of them is 29-year-old cadet pilot Jerrick Ang, who was looking to do something fulfilling in his free time and wanted to sample different volunteer activities.

So he signed up with the portal.

He said it is a quick way to get an overview of such activities, adding: 'Without it, I would probably have to look through different organisations' websites.'

So far, he has volunteered about six times, including being a marshal during brisk walks for the elderly and also interacting with foster children.

After signing up with the portal, volunteers have to attend a mandatory orientation session - a best practice in volunteer management - before they can start volunteering. The hour-long orientation session introduces them to the use of the portal and the activities available.

The NVPC, however, says that while it is starting to reach those who are interested in volunteering but are busy with work, it still has some way to go.

It has currently linked up with 68 organisations, more than half of which have offered opportunities for volunteers through the portal, with others working with SG Cares on

areas like programme development, training and volunteer referrals.

There are about 2,000 charities in Singapore, which run the gamut from some statutory boards to voluntary welfare organisations to religious groups.

But SG Cares director David Fong said it was not possible to reach the whole universe of organisations with 'episodic volunteering' because some were religious organisations which served only their own members, while a number required only highly trained or long-term volunteers due to the nature of their work, such as running counselling call centres.

In contrast, SG Cares lets users pick recurring activities, usually ranging from a few hours to half a day.

One organisation that has leveraged on SG Cares to plug a volunteer gap is the Institute of Mental Health. It has more than 200 regular volunteers who usually make weekend visits.

�However, it needs volunteers on weekdays when it holds different activities such as arts and crafts, singing, dancing, gardening and sports for its patients.

Since it signed up with SG Cares as a host organisation for volunteers, about 150 such volunteers have stepped in during the weekdays.

�Said IMH's assistant director, nursing, Ms Catherine Chua: 'The continuous flow of volunteers from Monday to Friday acts as extra helping hands and adds new ideas. The patients are very responsive to new people.'

The downside is that such volunteers may build rapport with the patients in one week but do not come back the next week to continue the rapport, she said.

But the organisation gets around this by managing patients' expectations.

Ms Chua hopes SG Cares will act as a starting point for volunteers to extend awareness about IMH's volunteering opportunities to their family and friends.

Said Mr Fong: 'Our task is not done yet. We are going to move the needle...We are only beginning to shake up the volunteering scene because we are drawing new volunteers.'

Good way to integrate into community, say foreign volunteers
Straits Times 2 Mar 10;

FOREIGNERS, excluding permanent residents, make up 10 per cent of SG Cares volunteers.

Those interviewed say they do so to give back to society and also to better understand the community they live in.

China national Hu Jierui, 28, signed up with SG Cares earlier this year after finding out about it through a friend.

The travel consultant and S Pass holder, who has been based here since last August, is not new to volunteer work. In his native Guangzhou, he visited the elderly and assisted them with their household chores. 'In helping people, we can get happiness; it's also a good way to integrate,' he said.

Mr Hu said he liked the flexibility of being able to choose from activities offered by different organisations.

Since signing up in January, he has taken part in a clean-up at a reservoir park, raised funds for a nursing home and interacted with patients at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

Another SG Cares volunteer Simon Betts, 34, has lent a helping hand 16 times since last September, mostly to interact with IMH patients, but he has also helped children and the elderly.

The technical customer support representative from England, who is here on an employment pass, said he feels he knows the country better through social work.

'Working with the local community, I have learnt that there are so many diverse cultures in Singapore and everyone works together for the greater good,' he said.

'For example, taking the elderly on a shopping trip, there can be many variants of a language which only certain volunteers can translate. It can be challenging, but there is always someone on hand to help.'

ANG YIYING

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February 2010 is driest month for Singapore since records began in 1869

Joanne Chan, Channel NewsAsia 1 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE: February was the driest month in 140 years, since 1869, when records of rainfall first started for Singapore.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said 6.3 millimetres of rain fell in the month.

1968 and 2005 had the next driest Februaries when 8.4 mm of rain fell.

February also saw the hottest day so far this year.

The mercury hit 35 degrees Celsius on the 26th of the month.

NEA said February is traditionally one of the driest months, made worse this year by the El Nino effect.

NEA said rainfall for the first half of March is expected to be below average for most parts of the island.

Climate researcher from the National University of Singapore Matthias Roth said the El Nino effect is expected to last till May.

Coupled with the El Nino effect, which may last for a few more months, an extended heatwave is expected.

"Getting into March and April, those are generally drier months, or drier tail-end of the Northeast Monsoon," explained associate professor Matthias Roth, climate researcher from the National University of Singapore. "So this together with the El Nino effect, would result in relatively dry and warm conditions for the coming couple of months."- CNA/yb

Last month the driest Feb in 140 years
Joanne Chan Today Online 2 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE - A new record has been set: February was the driest month ever for Singapore in 140 years.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), just 6.3mm of rain fell, the least in a single month since records began to be kept in 1869.

February also saw the hottest day so far, with the mercury hitting 35°C last Friday.

Those hoping for cool reprieve may have to wait. Notwithstanding passing showers in some areas yesterday, the first half of this month is expected to be mainly dry, with rainfall below average for most parts of the island, said the NEA.

Temperatures from today until Thursday are expected to reach 34°C.

The NEA said February is traditionally one of the driest months. Historically, the driest Februaries prior to this were in 1968 and 2005, when 8.4 mm of rain fell.

But the months ahead promise an extended heatwave.

March and April generally mark the drier tail-end of the of the north-east monsoon season, noted climate researcher Matthias Roth of the National University of Singapore.

And with the El Nino effect expected to last till May, Associate Professor Roth said the net effect would be "relatively dry, warm conditions for the coming couple of months".

For now, Singaporeans say they are beating the heat by downing cold drinks, swimming more, dressing lighter and turning on the air-conditioner.

Sorry kid, it's going to stay hot and dry for a while
Straits Times 2 Mar 10;

WITH the hot, dry spell spilling over into March, Kelvin Yap, four, finds a spot to cool off at the Marina Barrage.

February turned out to be the driest month ever and one of the hottest on record, with no sign of a respite any time soon.

The National Environment Agency's Meteorological Services Division said Singapore received just 6.3mm of rain - the lowest for February since 1869, when rainfall records began here.

February is usually a dry month, but conditions were made worse this year by the El Nino weather phenomenon. The highest maximum temperature of 35.2 deg C was recorded on Feb 26, just below the level on the hottest day ever, March 26, 1998, when the mercury hit 36 deg C.

The weatherman is predicting more hot days in the next fortnight, with occasional winds and afternoon showers on three or four days. Rainfall will likely remain 'below average' islandwide.

JERMYN CHOW

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Can palm oil help Indonesia's poor?

Bill Law BBC Radio 1 Mar 10;

Panorama last week reported on the disturbing destruction of orangutan habitats in Indonesia for palm oil plantations. But are there benefits from these plantations for local people?

Environmentalists have long decried the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests, first for timber and more recently for palm oil.

The logging was a one-time deal that mostly benefitted the country's corrupt elite and foreign corporations.

But does palm oil have the potential to generate new wealth for this nation of 250 million people?

There is one key fact that is often overlooked in the debate.

Rural middle class

Of the more than 7 million hectares (17.2 million acres) in palm oil cultivation, nearly half is in the hands of smallholders, ordinary folk trying to better themselves and look after their families.

"We are seeing the emergence of a rural middle class," says John McCarthy of the Australian National University.

He is an economist and expert on the Indonesian palm oil industry.

"I was doing research in a town in Sumatra and I went to a local school and nine of the 13 teachers had oil palm plantations," he said.

Intrigued, Mr McCarthy carried out a survey in several villages in the region. What he found startled him.

Villagers with four hectares (10 acres) or more were earning on average $12,000 (£7,775) a year. A second group with 2 hectares were earning much less -$2,000 (£1,300) a year - but were still enough to provide financial security for themselves and their families.

Villagers without palm oil all fell below the poverty line.

The growth of this new middle class has profound implications for both prosperity and the prospects of furthering democracy in Indonesia.

Fairer

There are huge abuses. Plantations continue to be opened up that flout the laws. Corruption flourishes. Local communities are being marginalised, habitats terribly degraded. So what is the way forward?

In the often polarised debate about palm oil, it is rare to find converging views between activists and owners.

Sawit Watch is an Indonesian NGO that has campaigned for several years on the palm oil front.

Achmad Surambo is the executive director of Sawit Watch.

When I meet him he is happy to make one point clear to me: palm oil in itself is not a bad thing for Indonesia. But the system needs to change.

Laws have to be enforced, people and the environment need to be protected, the land rights of local communities must be respected.

"We have to make the system more fair, accommodate the interests of farmers, communities and labourers," he says.

"The system right now is tilted toward the big companies and that has to change."

Increase productivity

Lyman Agro is a small plantation company managing 60,000 hectares in West Kalimantan (Borneo).

Steaven Halim of Lyman Agro points to the roads, schools and health clinics that have been built as proof of the company's commitment to its social responsibility.

"We have also helped (smallholders) build up cooperatives so they can handle their own business," he says.

The government and the industry until recently talked about doubling the land area in production.

Sensitive to negative press about deforestation, they are now talking instead about doubling the output in 10 years from 20 million to 40 million tonnes to help meet world demand.

When I ask Mr Halim whether this can be achieved with existing plantations he nods vigorously.

"Yes, indeed. Indeed it can," he says.

The key for him is increasing productivity for smallholders.

"If we can get them to 35 tonnes a hectare per year [it now is about 20 tonnes] we can do it."

That is not far off what Sawit Watch wants. It has called for a moratorium on expansion, as well as more support and better treatment of farmers and labourers.

Steaven Halim acknowledges there are "some bad guys, no doubt" in the industry, but that the time is now to talk.

"Let's sit down together and try to find the way out. People have to be fed."

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Will Indonesia's Last Tigers Survive?

Tasa Nugraza Barley, Jakarta Globe 1 Mar 10;

TasIt’s not just the Chinese who are celebrating the Year of the Tiger — the World Wildlife Fund has launched its own 2010 Year of the Tiger campaign to protect the endangered big cat.

The goal? To double the number of tigers living in the wild by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.

According to WWF figures, the number of the wild tigers has fallen by more than 95 percent over the past 100 years, leaving only 3,200 tigers in the world compared to 100,000 in the early 1900s.

For the current campaign, the WWF is working with countries that have wild tiger populations. Tigers can be found in Asia’s remaining forests, living in countries across the south, southeast and east of the continent.

WWF Indonesia launched the campaign here on Feb. 12, focusing on the protection of Sumatran tigers.

Desma Murni, communications manager for the forest and species program at WWF Indonesia, said that of the original nine tiger subspecies in the world, three were now extinct — the Caspian, Bali and Javan tigers. The remaining tiger subspecies are Siberian, Bengal, Indochinese, Sumatran, South China and Malayan.

“It’s a shame that we have lost two tiger subspecies in Indonesia,” Desma said.

Based on research conducted by a number of institutions, including the WWF, the Bali and Javan tigers vanished in the 1930s and 1970s, respectively, due to aggressive hunting by humans.

Sumatran tigers, the only remaining wild tigers in Indonesia, live in the jungles of Sumatra Island, from Aceh in the north to Lampung in the south.

But there are only around 400 of these tigers remaining in the wild and the WWF has classified them, along with the South China tiger, as “critically endangered,” meaning that immediate steps must be taken to prevent their extinction.

“We’ve lost two tiger subspecies [in Indonesia] and we definitely can’t afford to lose the Sumatran tigers too,” Desma said.

The Sumatran tiger is the smallest subspecies of tiger at around 2.5 meters long. Males usually weigh from 100 to 140 kilograms, while females weigh from 75 to 110 kilograms.

Desma said WWF Indonesia had implemented a range of programs to save the Sumatran tiger, including cooperating with city governments to restore national parks in forest areas.

WWF Indonesia said it would use the Year of the Tiger campaign to garner greater support for its programs from private companies and the public.

“Public workshops will be conducted during 2010 to educate people about the importance of saving Sumatran tigers,” Desma said.

She said WWF Indonesia would also work to educate the legal sector about how to better respond to wildlife crimes. The group will help train police officers, customs officials and prosecutors to respond to they types of crimes.

“Many law enforcers still don’t understand how to classify such a crime or how to handle it,” Desma said.

She said immediate action was needed to check the decline in the Sumatran tiger population, but warned it wouldn’t be easy.

“That’s because their jungles have been badly damaged and people still hunt them,” she said, adding that the continued loss of natural habitat meant wild tigers didn’t have enough prey to hunt.

“Because the jungle keeps shrinking, these tigers often accidentally enter villages where people will kill them because they are seen as a threat,” she said.

During the campaign launch, musician Nugie said people could take simple actions to help save the Sumatran tiger. “An environmentally friendly attitude, such as limiting the use of paper will help prevent the destruction of the forests,” he said. “That way, we can all help protect the tigers.”

Desma said she was confident that despite the many challenges, the Sumatran tiger could be saved from extinction. She said there was strong evidence that the tigers would breed if they had enough food and a habitat safe from hunters.

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Chinese authorities block reporting of wild Siberian tiger's death

First Siberian tiger found in wild for 20 years raises questions over handling of claims of rediscovered wild animals in China
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk 1 Mar 10;

The first Siberian tiger cub to be found in the wild in China in at least 20 years has died less than two days after being discovered, the Guardian has learned.

Authorities have moved covered up the death, which casts a shadow over what is potentially the best conservation news the country has had for decades.

It also raises questions about the handling and timing of the discovery, which comes as China celebrates the start of the lunar year of the Tiger and a major financial push to save the biggest cat on the planet.

Early on the morning of 25 February, Han Deyou, a forester in the Wanda mountains in the northern province of Heilongjiang claimed to have discovered a wild tiger cub trapped in a pile of firewood in his yard.

Afraid of its roars and aggression, he called local police and forestry officials, who fed the captive animal beef and chicken as they waited for wildlife experts from a tiger breeding centre to arrive in the remote area the following morning.

The tiger was anaesthetised with a dart, taken away and detained in the jail of the local public security bureau. Experts confirmed it was a Siberian tiger, weighing 28.5kg and thought to be about around nine months old.

Regional media said the cub had probably sought shelter after being separated from its mother in the unusually deep winter snows.

Local authorities hailed the discovery as an "explosively" important development, according to the Northeast China Net website.

There are only about 20 tigers left in the wild. According to regional media, no cubs have been found since the founding of the People's Republic of China more than 60 years ago, though conservationists say records are unreliable before the 1990s.

Although China's wild tiger population is tiny, thousands of the animals are bred in captivity each year. Forestry bureaus are responsible for conservation and receive the bulk of funds related to this end.

The discovery of the young tiger appeared to show that the animals were still breeding in the wild, the best possible news at the start of a year in which the government, World Bank and conservation groups plan to invest heavily in a new programme to save the biggest cat on the planet.

But the case has been quickly shrouded in mystery, tragedy and secrecy.

Ma Hongliang, the propaganda chief of The East Is Red Forest Bureau, told the Guardian that the cub is dead, but the news has been withheld. He has advised Central China Television and other domestic journalists not to report the death because of possible negative publicity.

He declined to answer questions about the time and cause of death. "Experts tried their best to save the cub," he said. "It was too weak to survive."

The full details of the case have yet to emerge. It could yet prove a sad, but essentially positive indication of the potential for the remaining wild tiger population to breed.

Alternatively, it may raise fresh doubts about eco-fraud among a public that has become cynical about conservation claims. In 2008, forestry officials in Shaanxi province endorsed a photograph of a South China tiger, which suggested the animal – until then assumed extinct – was still alive. It was quickly proved a fake.

The financial incentives for such duplicity are substantial because the existence of wild tigers improves the prospects for tourism and the possibility of conservation funds.

But conservation groups said there was reason to believe the latest case may be genuine.

"From the information we have, I think it might be real," said a conservationist, who declined to be named. "This area has been monitored for a long time. Locals have previously reported seeing a tiger and a pup."

Last year, a dead female tiger was found trapped in a snare. The trapper – a frog farmer – was caught. It is not likely to be the mother of the dead cub because tigers are dependant on their mothers for two years.

But conservationists were upbeat about the prospects for more cubs next year if the mother can avoid snares.

China herdsmen kill snow leopard
BBC News 8 Mar 10;

Two herdsmen have been sentenced to eight and 10 years in prison for killing a snow leopard in northwest China's Xinjiang region.

China's state news agency Xinhua quoted local authorities saying the men had set a trap after wild animals had been preying on their sheep.

When a snow leopard was trapped, they stoned it to death and gave its fur, bones and internal organs to others.

It is estimated that there are just 4,000 snow leopards left in the wild.

The wildlife protection office of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture confirmed that the animal they killed was a snow leopard, said Yang Jianwei, a publicity official of Manas County Committee of the Communist Party of China, where the men were convicted.

Xinhua reported that five suspects who had allegedly killed two snow leopards were arrested in January this year by the Public Security Bureau of Luntai County, Xinjiang.

Four people were sentenced to 12 years in prison for killing and selling four snow leopards on 19 November 2008.

Snow leopards live between 3,000 and 5,500 metres above sea level in the rocky mountains in central and south Asia.

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Scientists find community involvement, not only enforcement, drives success of marine reserves

University of Rhode Island, EurkeAlert 1 Mar 10;

Largest study of marine protected areas links social, ecological systems

KINGSTON, R.I. – March 1, 2010 – In one of the most comprehensive global studies of marine reserves, a team of natural and social scientists from the University of Rhode Island and other institutions has found that community involvement is among the most important factors driving the success of marine reserves.

"We make a big mistake thinking that a marine reserve is just about coral, fish and other aquatic organisms," said Richard Pollnac, URI professor of anthropology and marine affairs, who led the study. "They are also composed of the people who can make them succeed or fail and who are either helped or hurt by them."

The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on February 22.

The researchers studied 127 marine protected areas in the Caribbean, Western Indian Ocean and the Philippines to identify the key factors that determine the success of marine reserves, which protect the marine environment by prohibiting fishing. Biological assessments were conducted at 56 of the reserves to determine their ecological health, while surveys of residents and community leaders in local communities discerned perceptions and opinions in all 127 reserves.

Among their results, the researchers found that the reserves where residents said they complied with the rules were more effective at protecting fish stocks than those where the rules were often ignored. They noted, however, that compliance with reserve rules occurred not only due to surveillance and enforcement but also due to complex social interactions among community members and opinion leaders.

"The most successful reserves were those where the people said that most of the community follows the rules," explained Graham Forrester, URI associate professor of natural resources science and a co-author of the study. "Compliance with the rules is a measure of how a community feels about the reserve. It's their choice to follow the rules."

The researchers noted that their surveys indicated that it is vital to the success of any marine reserve that community members are participants in the process of setting up and monitoring the reserve.

Other research results were somewhat surprising.

The effect of human population density near marine reserves, for instance, differed significantly from location to location. As the researchers expected, greater population density negatively impacted reserves in the Caribbean, but it had no detectable affect at marine reserves in the Philippines. At reserves in the Western Indian Ocean, on the other hand, greater population density was correlated with healthier reserves and greater fish biomass inside the reserve compared with outside.

Study co-author Tracey Dalton, URI associate professor of marine affairs, said that it is not easy to explain these disparities. The positive effects in the Indian Ocean may be driven by increased fishing pressure outside the reserve or the result of people migrating to areas where the marine reserves are most successful.

"It's important to recognize that people are part of the ecology of marine reserves," Pollnac said. "If you can demonstrate to them that the reserve will have more fish while also providing benefits to the community, and if you pay attention to the needs of the people, then there's a much greater chance that the reserve will be a success."

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Ancient Corals Hold New Hope for Reefs

ScienceDaily 1 Mar 10;

Fossil corals, up to half a million years old, are providing fresh hope that coral reefs may be able to withstand the huge stresses imposed on them by today's human activity.

Reef ecosystems were able to persist through massive environmental changes imposed by sharply falling sea levels during previous ice ages, an international scientific team has found. This provides new hope for their capacity to endure the increasing human impacts forecast for the 21st century.

In the world's first study of what happened to coral reefs when ocean levels sank to their lowest recorded level -- over 120 metres below today's levels -- a study carried out on eight fossil reefs in Papua New Guinea's Huon Gulf region has concluded that a rich diversity of corals managed to survive, although they were different in composition to the corals under more benign conditions.

"Of course, sea levels then were falling -- and today they are rising. But if we want to know how corals cope with hostile conditions, then we have to study what happens under all circumstances," explains Professor John Pandolfi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and The University of Queensland. "We've seen what happens to corals in the past when sea levels rose and conditions were favourable to coral growth: we wanted to see what happened when they fell and conditions were adverse."

"When sea levels drop you get a catastrophic reduction in coral habitat and a loss of connectivity between reefs. Well, those circumstances are in some respects similar to what corals are experiencing today due to human impacts -- so there are useful parallels."

"Although it is little asked, the question of where reef species go when faced with extreme environmental situations is highly relevant for understanding their prospects of survival in the future -- and what we need to do to give them the best chance," Prof. Pandolfi suggests.

In the Huon region, the team found, coral reefs survived the hard times low of sea levels with as much richness of species -- but with a different composition to what they had during the good times. "As a rule the coral colonies during the period of low sea levels were closer to the sea floor and slower-growing in comparison with times of high sea levels."

"What we have found suggests that reef systems are able to survive adverse conditions given suitable shallow rocky habitat. An interesting finding of this study is that complex coral ecosystems were maintained during the less optimal periods of low sea level. These may have been critical to the re-establishment of nearby reefs once environmental conditions began to improve."

"The fossil record shows that reefs have been remarkably successful in surviving large environmental disturbances. However the combination of drastic environmental changes that we're seeing today, such as degraded water quality, depleted fish stocks, coral bleaching, ocean acidification and loss of habitat are unprecedented in the history of coral reefs. Although this study clearly highlights the resilience of reef ecosystems, it is important not to underestimate the magnitude of the challenges that reefs are currently facing. "

Prof. Pandolfi says we somehow have to find ways of preventing or offsetting each of these impacts if we expect our reefs to ride out the major climatic changes of the 21st century in as good condition as they have in the past.

Their paper "Community dynamics of Pleistocene coral reefs during alternative climatic regimes," by Danika Tager, Jody M. Webster, Don Potts, Willem Renema, Juan C. Braga and John M. Pandolfi appears in the latest issue of Ecology, 91(1), 2010, pp. 191-200.

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Turtles: the new clue to climate change?

Vesela Todorova, The National 1 Mar 10;

ABU DHABI // For as long as anyone could remember, hundreds of marine turtles used to make their way to the beaches of Abu Dhabi to lay their eggs between the middle of March and June.

For the past three years, however, the sea creatures have changed their breeding habits; their nesting season is now starting about two weeks later.

Scientists at the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) say they do not know exactly why this is happening. But they suspect it could be an early indication of how climate change is affecting the turtles and perhaps other species, as well.

“The nesting season has shrunk from 90 days to 75 days,” said Dr Himansu Das, an EAD scientist.

The agency has been monitoring sea turtles since 1999. For the past three years, the nesting season has started in April, instead of the second half of March, Dr Das said.

He speculated it was probably due to the fact the winter rains now last until the end of February and into March. The cooler, more turbulent seawater associated with storms delays mating and, therefore, nesting on the beaches.

Two kinds of marine turtles the green and the hawksbill live in UAE waters. Between 5,000 and 7,000 feed on seagrass and coral around the shores of Abu Dhabi. Of the two species, only the hawksbill is known to regularly nest here. So far, despite the changes to their nesting period, the population is stable; between 150 and 217 females come to Abu Dhabi each season, Dr Das said.

Dr Thabit al Abdessalaam, the director of the EAD’s biodiversity sector, said other species also seem to be affected. There is data that young kingfish are entering the fishery later that usual, which could indicate a delay in spawning.

“In Oman, they have noticed the same with yellow-fin tuna,” he said.

The scientists were making their comments ahead of this year’s turtle nesting season and two days after southerly winds caused sandstorms and thunderstorms.

Dr al Abdessalaam said more research was needed before a clear connection between climate change and the delay of the nesting patterns could be made.

“It is too early to say it is climate-induced,” he said. “Three years is a short period of time. We need a longer time series to confirm that. We need at least a decade of data.”

While the delayed turtle nesting season does not appear to be hurting the overall population, it appears to be having an impact on the gender of hatchlings.

If the temperature is between 29°C and 30°C, the number of male and female hatchlings will be roughly even, said Dr Das. But as the temperature gets higher, more females are hatched.

Because sea turtles are highly migratory, the negative connotations of gender imbalance are softened, he said.

“There are places in the Pacific where it is cooler and predominantly males are hatching,” he said. But Dr al Abdessalaam cautioned that the long-running implications on the population could be serious.

Turtles are known to travel thousands of miles around the ocean, and the details of their migrations are not clear to scientists.

“We do not know the long-term implications; no one has studied this so far,” Dr al Abdessalaam said.

In addition, as the weather gets hotter, the number of hatchlings produced and the health of the hatchlings are adversely affected. For example, said Dr Das, a nest studied in the middle of June showed a hatching success rate of zero.

“Temperature also affects the rate of growth of the embryo and hatchlings,” he said. Birth defects are also more common when temperatures are higher.

“What we need to do is find a mechanism to buffer this,” Dr al Abdessalaam said.

Buffers could include the creation of protected areas as well as measures to ensure the nesting habitats are not further affected by development.

Another option is to restore habitat on beaches already affected by development.

Also, environmental organisations will be cautioned to clean beaches by hand. Using machines for clean-up can compact the sand and remove native vegetation, destroying two important conditions for successful nesting.

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Common weed-killer chemically castrates frogs: study

Yahoo News 2 Mar 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – One of the most common weed killers in the world, atrazine, causes chemical castration in frogs and could be contributing to a worldwide decline in amphibian populations, a study published Monday showed.

Researchers compared 40 male control frogs with 40 male frogs reared from hatchlings until full sexual maturity, in atrazine concentrations similar to those experienced year-round in areas where the chemical is found.

Ninety percent of the male frogs exposed to atrazine had low testosterone levels, decreased breeding gland size, feminized laryngeal development, suppressed mating behavior, reduced sperm production and decreased fertility.

And an alarming finding of the study was that the remaining 10 percent of atrazine-exposed male frogs developed into females that copulated with males and produced eggs.

The larvae that developed from those eggs were all male, according to the study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Earlier studies have found that atrazine feminized zebra fish and leopard frogs and caused a significant decline in sperm production in male salmon and caiman lizards.

"Atrazine exposure is highly correlated with low sperm count, poor semen quality and impaired fertility in humans," the study said.

Atrazine is widely used by farmers around the world as a weed- and grass-killer, particularly in production of corn, sorghum and sugar cane.

According to the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council, the chemical herbicide has been banned in the European Union, although advocates for atrazine, who say the weed-killer increases crop yields, say only some European countries have banned it.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said four years ago that there was insufficient data to determine whether the chemical herbicide affects amphibian development and refused to ban the chemical.

Around 80 million pounds of atrazine are applied annually to crop fields in the United States alone, and half a million pounds of the herbicide fall to earth in rainfall in the United States, including in areas hundreds of miles from the farmland where it was originally applied, the study says.

"Atrazine can be transported more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the point of application via rainfall and, as a result, contaminates otherwise pristine habitats, even in remote areas where it is not used," the study says.

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For Pennies, a Disposable Toilet That Could Help Grow Crops

Sindya N. Bhanoo, The New York Times 1 Mar 10;

A Swedish entrepreneur is trying to market and sell a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world.

Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.
The bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm.

“Not only is it sanitary,” said Mr. Wilhelmson, who has patented the bag, “they can reuse this to grow crops.”

In his research, he found that urban slums in Kenya, despite being densely populated, had open spaces where waste could be buried.

He also found that slum dwellers there collected their excrement in a plastic bag and disposed of it by flinging it, calling it a “flyaway toilet” or a “helicopter toilet.”

This inspired Mr. Wilhelmson to design the Peepoo, an environmentally friendly alternative that he is confident will turn a profit.

“People will say, ‘It’s valuable to me, but well priced,’ ” he said.

He plans to sell it for about 2 or 3 cents — comparable to the cost of an ordinary plastic bag.

In the developing world, an estimated 2.6 billion people, or about 40 percent of the earth’s population, do not have access to a toilet, according to United Nations figures.

It is a public health crisis: open defecation can contaminate drinking water, and an estimated 1.5 million children worldwide die yearly from diarrhea, largely because of poor sanitation and hygiene.

To mitigate this, the United Nations has a goal to reduce by half the number of people without access to toilets by 2015.

The market for low-cost toilets in the developing world is about a trillion dollars, according to Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, a sanitation advocacy group.

As far as toilets go, “the people in the middle class have reached saturation in consumption,” said Mr. Sim, who calls himself a fan of the Peepoo. “This has created a new need, urgently, of looking for a new customer.”

Since 2001, his organization has held an annual World Toilet Summit, and Mr. Sims said he was excited that in recent years there had been an emergence of entrepreneurs devising low-cost solutions.

At the 2009 meeting, Rigel Technology of Singapore unveiled a $30 toilet that separates solid and liquid waste, turning solid waste into compost. Sulabh International, an Indian nonprofit and the host of the World Toilet Summit in 2007, is promoting several low-cost toilets, including one that produces biogas from excrement. The gas can then be used in cooking.

But Therese Dooley, senior adviser on sanitation and hygiene for Unicef, said that inculcating sanitation habits was no easy task.

“It will take a large amount of behavior change,” Ms. Dooley said.

She added that while “the private sector can play a major role, it will never get to the bottom of the pyramid.”

A sizable population, poor and uneducated, will still be left without toilets, Ms. Dooley said, and nonprofits and governments will have to play a large role in distribution and education.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wilhelmson is pushing ahead with the Peepoo.

After successfully testing it for a year in Kenya and India, he said he planned to mass produce the bag this summer.

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